Hans,
Flight of The Buffalo. Excellent book. So is his other, Soaring With
Phoenix.
Rick
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Hinners Hans Civ WRALC/LYPME [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2000 4:21 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [TN] Theory of Constraints
>
> Hi Ryan and All,
>
>> Theory of Constraints is now one of the courses most industrial
>> engineering programs and even some manufacturing engineering programs
>> require. As I have been told, it is an idea that Henry Ford started,
>> later
>> refined by Edward Demming, and perfected by Toyota.
>>
> They are certainly in the same vein but I wouldn't say Deming, Ford
>or Ohno did TOC. My understanding on this subject is that Deming focused on
>quality of the process not the product (the old QC vs. QA). He did this
>with Shewhart's providing the statistical know how.
>
> Ford created the assembly line with a physical buffer between
>operations where everything is linear (moving at the same speed). Ohno did
>a similar thing with his Kanban cards. Goldratt added buffers to give us
>synchronized manufacturing. Buffers protect the flow of product moving
>through the shop and make sure you hit your deadlines or even better beat
>them. :-)
>
>> The theory can get quite in-depth, but in a nutshell, it is the
>> idea
>> of determining your slowest step or process on the manufacturing line;
>> otherwise known as the constraint. Since nothing can move through the
>> constraint any faster than the constraint, it makes no sense to produce
>> things at the other steps faster than the constraint. If you want to
>> manufacture things faster than the constraint allows, then speed up the
>> constraint.
>>
>> Many people really have a BIG problem with slowing down other
>> processes to match the speed of the constraint. (It's at this point that
>> I
>> start to argue with people). No matter how fast things are built at other
>> points in the process, once it gets to the constraint, the speed by which
>> it
>> is processed is fixed. No matter what!!!!. Building things faster at
>> other
>> points in the process will never make it go through the constraint any
>> faster. Since by definition, it must go through the constraint.
>>
>> However, finding the constraint is the hard part. Most people try
>> to do it with a stop watch. I don't feel that a stop watch works at all;
>> mostly because I have never seen a static manufacturing line. Typically,
>> manufacturing lines are dynamic, causing a constraint to move from one
>> hour
>> to the next. Statistically, a constraint will occur is one process more
>> often than any other place. It is because manufacturing lines are dynamic
>> that a constraint is not obvious, consequently, people don't see the value
>> in slowing down a process for some "phantom" constraint.
>>
> I haven't had much trouble finding our constraints. (I only needed
>statistics to prove the constraints exists to others.) Just walk around the
>shop floor and watch for excess inventory. The real work is in maximizing
>the constant/s once you find it/them.
>
> Now I'm curious - how many folks are using/heard of Leading the
>Journey (The Buffalo Book)?
>
> Hans
>
>~~~~~~~~
>Hans M. Hinners
>Materials (& Process!) Engineer
>Warner Robins - Air Logistics Center/Avionics Production Division
>Manufacturing Branch (LYPME)
>380 Second Street, Suite 104 (Building 640)
>Robins AFB, GA 31098-1638
>912-926-1970 (Voice) 468 - 1970 (DSN) 912-926-7164 (Fax)
>[log in to unmask]
>
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